Thought Zero – Shameless plug time! If you like my writing, or if you like movies, or if you like humor, or if you like goats please check out my summaries of the Academy Award Best Picture nominees. You can find it here on Inside Pulse at http://insidepulse.com/2017/02/20/an-oscar-an-oscar-my-kingdom-for-an-oscar/

1) Pre-theme song we get a big voice-over clip montage about the Decade of Excellence tournament to set up Jay Briscoe versus Christopher Daniels in the finals and tonight’s main event. It worked, but saying Daniels is facing his own mortality is a little over-the-top.

2) The match that jerks the curtain is Silas Young versus Bull James. I do not have high hopes for this match even though Silas Young is pretty damn good in the ring. Before the match we get a replay of the Beer City Bruiser hitting a crazy frog splash on James a few weeks ago. That is the type of highlight that should be in the opening montage of this show.

3) The crowd is absolutely dead quiet for this match. Silas is trying his best to get the crowd worked up, but they are not cooperating. Bull James does a pretty sad “Flip Flop and Fly,” but it gives him control of the match. And the crowd has gone from silent to mumbling and restless. Probably not what ROH was hoping. Bull James hits a tornado DDT to Beer City Bruiser on the outside, but Silas Young is able to take over and win with Misery which was almost countered by the fatness of Bull James. Ugly match all the way around.

4) We come back with a weird cut to Bobby Fish winning Battle of the Fittest. This transitions to Fish talking about getting his title shot against Adam Cole due to winning that Battle. Fish has some pretty good intensity in this promo. Much better than when he tries to be silly and goofy.

5) Now we get Colt Cabana in a handicap match against Dalton Castle’s boys. Another match that does not promote a lot of confidence. Dalton Castle decides to join Kevin Kelly at the commentary table. Before the match starts though, Colt Cabana takes a microphone and starts with his silliness. He also tells Castle that their feud is not over. Oh joy.

6) Castle immediately explains to Kevin Kelly that the Boys are going to do fine because they have peacock blood flowing through their veins. What kind of Dr. Mureau level shit are you doing, Dalton?

7) As we go to break, Kevin Kelly decides to annoy me and asks whether the Boys will be able to pull the upset and beat Colt Cabana. No, no, no, no, no, no. I HATE it when announcers minimize handicap matches. It is one guy versus 2. The solo wrestler is the one who has the odds stacked against him. Thus, the reason it is called a handicap match. I also hate when John Cena or Roman Reigns or someone single-handedly defeating long-time tag teams and even tag team champions. The ONLY time it is acceptible for the solo wrestler to win easily in a handicap match is if that solo wrestler is Andre the Giant or another monster a promotion is trying to push (like a Braun Strowman push). But this is Colt Cabana. And even though the Boys are inexperienced, they are still two against one. Argh.

8) We see a promo for the Best Prospect Tournament which starts next week. They run down the previous winners in order – Matt Taven, Hansen, Donovan Dijak, and Lio Rush. You can say what you want about any of these men, but you can not deny that Ring of Honor has done a fantastic job of building these guys into big-time players.

9) Mark Briscoe and Frankie Kazarian both join Kevin Kelly to watch their partners. This episode is definitely a one match show, and they are doing a good job of giving this a very big match feel. Early on, both men try some chain wrestling which is a little off, but since both men are talented veterans, they are able to play it off as jockeying for position. That’s some good work by both guys – take a mistake or something that just isn’t timed right and turn it into a positive.

10) Now, finally, the crowd starts waking up. They have been very dead all night. It is pretty obvious it was the end of a long television taping. Wow, Daniels hits a springboard moonsault to the floor on Briscoe and hits really hard on the floor. That looked dangerous as hell. Kazarian and Mark Briscoe are too emotional to stay on color commentary, so they abandon Kevin Kelly to cheer on their partners from ringside. We get the old both men kick out of each others’ finishers bit, and it works. The crowd is buying into all the pinfall attempts to be probable finishes. And this is the loudest the crowd has been all night (all the more credit to these two competitors). The finish comes when Daniels hits an Angel’s Wings off the top rope. Pretty impressive and Daniels won all his matches in this tournament clean. All I can say is that this better be leading to Daniels taking the belt off Cole and not just for Kazarian to turn on him.

Overall, this was a one match show, but what a match it was. Until next week, enjoy reading about some movies you will probably never see. I didn’t. http://insidepulse.com/2017/02/20/an-oscar-an-oscar-my-kingdom-for-an-oscar/